Rule May Curb Delayed Justice

January 16, 1985

IF THE WORD justice is to have any meaning in the criminal justice system, there must be some finality to criminal court proceedings.

The Florida Supreme Court, fortunately, finally has realized that fact and established a new rule that will put limits on the appeals that can be filed by criminals seeking to overturn their convictions.

The new rule prohibits motions for post-conviction relief in most cases once two years have elapsed from the adjudication of the initial appeal -- a limit that not only is reasonable but just.

The court also has provided some exceptions to the deadline, mainly when new evidence becomes available that was not available at the time of the trial or when the state improperly withheld information from the defense.

The new limit should put an end to many petitions filed by jailhouse lawyers, who have had a field day in recent years, flooding the system with one appeal after another, many of them decades after their conviction of a crime.

In many cases, those petitions have resulted in miscarriages of justice, freeing individuals from deserved punishment. The courts, fearful that certain constitutional rights may have been violated, have ordered new trials that no longer feasibly can held because witnesses have moved or died, or evidence has disappeared.

Assistant Attorney General Ray Marky, whose office pressed the high court for the rule change, recalled that in one case a convicted killer won his freedom on a jailhouse petition filed more than 30 years after his conviction.

``The bottom line purpose of the rule is to bring about finality of judgment in all cases,`` said Marky. That worthy goal is an essential part of justice and one that should be enhanced by the Florida Supreme Court`s new rule.